In a surprise move, the Green Bay Packers released their prospective No. 2 and No. 3 quarterbacks and traded for Malik Willis of the Tennessee Titans to serve as the backup to Jordan Love this season.
“Very grateful for the organization — both Tennessee and Green Bay — for giving me the opportunity to play at the next level,” Willis said. “Things happened, so I’m here now and grateful to coach and the GM and everybody who’s a part of this things for having me here. I’m a Packer now, so that’s what it is.”
Can you learn enough fast enough to be the backup in Week 1?
I think I’m going to take this thing day by day and do what I can to prepare myself to be in position to do that.
What do you want to show?
I’m not sure I’m going to show or trying to show anything. I think I’m gonna take this thing day by day. It’s a quick turnaround and do my best to learn the offense and be prepared to back up Jordan and do whatever I can to help this organization and this team.
What excites you about being behind Jordan?
I think it’s cool. We have the same agent, so I have a previous relationship with him and just getting anything … I mean he went to the playoffs last year, so that’s awesome. I can learn anything I can from him.
Process to learn this offense?
The process, it’s more than anything getting in front of it and learning everything you can, being really a sponge to anything the coaches have, anything the other guys in the room have, anything I can read on my own and watch film and seeing it done, just more than anything repetition. That’s what it is at this point.
How did you find out about the trade?
I met with Ran and coach Callahan and they gave me the news. They said it’s either a positive or a negative, depending on how you look at it, and it this is an opportunity to come and be a 2 and work my way to get better every day and learn something along the way.
Any carryover from Callahan’s offense?
I feel there’s definitely some crossover as far as what we were doing this year with Callahan and even before that with what we were doing my rookie year just as far as terms and the build of it goes and the type of systems it is. I think I’ll get more familiar with it as we go.
Did you see a trade coming at all?
I mean, I didn’t wake up thinking I was going to be traded, no sir. So it definitely caught me by surprise.
More than anything, you just take it (for) what it is. Quick turnaround, and the season’s starting. There’s no more lounging around and kinda getting ready for the season. This is what it is. There’s no time to really think about it. It’s time to go.
How have you grown since those three starts as a rookie?
I mean, in all aspects. That’s the last time I really got to go and put something out there on tape for myself. You work hard every day to work on those things that may be deficiencies or just mistakes. You learn from those bumps and bruises. You just wait for another opportunity. You just stick around until you get another opportunity, and I think that’s been the main thing — focus on the process and not maybe the results.
You’re teammates with McKinney again.
It’s crazy. We went to high school together for a year. I had transferred out there to Roswell. We end up going to the state championship, so that’s awesome. And then we got Ty’Ron Hopper, his big cousin, he played with us on that championship run team and he came a year after, so it’s cool to see him here as well. There’s a lot of guys that are familiar faces that are in the building.
What’s a good scouting report on yourself?
I think when you’ve played enough games, you can have something you hang your hat on. I don’t say I’m hanging my hat on anything as of right now. I think that only comes with reps and confidence building being out there on the field and as far as working hard and doing what I can every day to get better, I’ll continue to do that until the opportunity arises.
First impressions of Green Bay?
I mean, it’s nice. It was warmer than I thought it was gonna be.
For now.
Did I jinx it? My bad.
What have you learned about yourself as a player?
I’ve learned that — I learned at a crazy rate. This is my fourth offense going into my third year, so it’s what it is, and just being able to adapt has really made me not proud but definitely leaning on that and continuing to just grind and work hard and continuing to let things play out how they’re supposed to.
Last 48 hours for you?
Yeah, all the other stuff didn’t really matter. It’s more than anything getting ready for practice today.
That’s really been the main thing and making sure we’re jumping on this thing as fast as we can. It’s not much time. There’s not much reason to not give into it, you know what I mean?
Conversation with Matt LaFleur, what was that like?
I won’t speak for him. I’ll let you guys ask him and he just basically said let’s go, let’s get to work and he’s glad to have me, so that’s awesome.
You had good stats in preseason?
It’s reps, at the end of the day. That’s the most important thing. You get to go out there and play football against guys that are doing the same as you, trying to get better. I think it’s not anything you put real stock into as far as realization of where you are in your position, but I think it’s definitely awesome to get live reps against guys you don’t go against every day, against somebody you have to prepare for.
It’s a mock game for the season. That’s what it is. It’s preseason. It helps you lock in on how you want to prepare for a game and how you want to go out there and execute. You see those little things you may have seen on film and be able to utilize it outside of, oh, everything’s scripted in practice. You go play football.
How much have you played in cold, sub-freezing weather?
Not below freezing, no, sir, but Liberty was pretty cold. We played a game that was like 20, 15 degrees. I’ve played some pretty cold games. We played here and it snowed before the game my rookie year.
That was pretty cold. Not below freezing, I haven’t yet. Oh, I’m lying. My rookie year we played in Nashville against Houston and it was negative 5, negative 2, something like that.
But you didn’t play in that game, right?
No, I started. I had my scuba suit on.
The Packers just added former Titans kicker Brayden Narveson. He kicked a 59-yarder in preseason.
Yeah, you’ve got to go look that up. It’s cool. That whole situation was cool. Coach Colt (Anderson), the special teams coordinator, he vouched for him and said, ‘Send him out there. Let’s kick one.’ And he ended up making one of the longest kicks in Tennessee history. That’s awesome. I’m glad for him. He deserves it. I’m glad to be here as well. God’s given me this opportunity, and I’m ready for it.”
Ready for a fresh start?
You think about that. You really don’t put much stock into that. You just go to work each day and you kind of fight the perceptions of what you have on tape. That’s what it is. That’s truth. You can’t really put that on anybody else. You can’t put that on yourself as well. Sometimes the situation allows for what it allows, and you just continue to work each day and do what you can. That’s all I worry about.
What’s the role of a backup QB once season starts, aside from getting yourself ready to play games?
That, and just supporting any way you can, as far as anything. You’re just there to help along the way.
How much of Jordan’s game have you watched?
It looks like I’m going to be watching a lot of it. Just getting all the concepts and stuff together, watching the clips and cut-ups and just seeing how he’s reading it so I can figure out what I’m going to do with it, same thing.
Willis preparing for new role in Green Bay
